After the defense held Oceanside on the possession after Hylton’s kick-return score, Carroll slowed down the tempo and drained almost all of the remaining six minutes in the half with a 12-play drive that featured 10 run calls and ended with a Tomlinson’s 15-yard touchdown run. Tomlinson finished with 160 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries, while Mask added 99 yards with two touchdowns on 19 attempts. “We had a good week of [practice],” Tomlinson said. “We figured once we got up, we could run the ball.”

It was more of the same in the second half, only now Baldwin, holding a 13-point lead, was able to turn its defense loose and allow its playmakers to make plays. The Sailors first two possessions of the third quarter ended in interceptions with senior Michael Abrahams grabbing one off a tipped pass, and Robinson taking a throw by Oceanside quarterback Tom Capone 44 yards to the end zone to open up a 26-point edge on the scoreboard. Two plays before Robinson’s interception, sophomore Paul Nosworthy batted down a ball at the line of scrimmage. “Once they started throwing, we figured we could cover the pass more than the run,” Carroll said of turning up the pressure.

During the regular season, the Bruins sacked Capone five times but failed to force a turnover. This time around, they dropped him once — senior linebacker Lucas Krucher got to Capone in the early in the third quarter — but had three interceptions. Senior linebacker Ryan Mahoney also added an interception midway through the fourth quarter.